‘Star Wars’ Day 2014: The ‘Fourth’ Is Strong In Cool ‘Episode VII’ Poster

Fans all over the world celebrate Star Wars Day 2014, and the “fourth” is stronger than ever in 2014, after Disney and Lucasfilm, along with J.J. Abrams announced the cast for the upcoming Episode VII last week.

A new poster, which includes the entire cast announced for the new installment, has been released just in time for Star Wars Day 2014.

May 4th is known as Star Wars Day and the origins of the celebrations date back to 1979, when the Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher, was elected Prime Minister in England.

Following her election, the London Evening News had a half-page ad that read: “May the Fourth be with you Maggie. Congratulations.” And the rest, as they say, is history.

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope had been a commercial success two years earlier and fans of the franchise wanted nothing else than to prolong the reach of their new-found obsession any way they could.

The fact that a major newspaper in England decided to pun on of the principal lines of in the movie — “May the force be with you,” uttered by Sir Alec Guiness — one that caught on like wildfire and has become synonym of Star Wars, was more than enough to have a lasting impression. And it did.

Once social media came into play around the world, the phrase became even more popular and in 2011 fans of Star Wars began to officially mark the day as their own, starting in Canada at the Toronto Underground Cinema, where festivities included costume contests, film festival, and other celebrations.

The practice soon took off and Star Wars Day became the tradition we now know it to be and continuing with the puns, the following day was nicknamed “Revenge of the Fifth”, in allusion to Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith.

May is the month when the films have been traditionally released and when fans became worried that Star Wars Day would go away, Disney, being the PR machine we know them to be took the opportunity to really push all related merchandise in stores and even began celebrations at their theme parks.

In 2013, the parks officially started celebrations and in 2014 Disney stores will have a variety of Star Wars merchandise to mark the day, with exclusive collectible items offered for purchase.

A new poster (which is brilliant, if not official shared by MTV.com) includes the Star Wars Episode VII cast is feeding the anticipation, after the long 10-years fan have been waiting to get excited about a new installment and comes at the perfect time.

We see the “veterans” Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia), and Harrison Ford (Han Solo) being joined by newcomers John Boyeaga, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Max von Sydow, and the virtual unknown Daisy Ridley. We can expect to see similar fan posters between now and 2015, when Episode VII is scheduled for release.

With the recent cast announcements for Star Wars Episode VII late last week, May 4th has a new meaning and fans are more excited than they have been in a long time to celebrate in 2014. Without further to say: May the Fourth be with you, always. Happy Star Wars Day!